Techniques have long been known for depositing substances, such as layers of semiconductor material, using a plasma that is formed into a jet. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,471,003 and 4,487,162 disclose arc jet plasma deposition equipments which utilize a plasma for deposition of semiconductors and other materials. Ions and electrons are obtained by injecting an appropriate compound, such as a silicon compound, into an arc region, and a jet (or beam) is formed by utilizing magnetic fields to accelerate and focus the plasma. Recently, equipment of this type has been used to deposit synthetic diamond. Superior physical and chemical properties make diamond desirable for many mechanical, thermal, optical and electronic applications, and the ability to deposit synthetic diamond by plasma jet deposition holds great promise, particularly if plasma jet techniques can be improved for this and other purposes. A plasma of a hydrocarbon and hydrogen can be obtained using electrical arcing, and the resultant plasma focused and accelerated toward a substrate, using focusing and accelerating magnets, so that polycrystalline diamond film is deposited on the substrate. Reference can be made, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,144 for description of an example of a type of plasma jet deposition that can be utilized to deposit synthetic diamond on a substrate.
In various commercial applications it is desirable to have relatively large size diamond films. In plasma jet deposition techniques there are various factors which limit the practical size of the deposition area that is active on a substrate at a particular moment. For example, when an arc is employed to generate the heated gas mixture in an arc jet plasma deposition system, the diameter of the beam can be limited by a number of factors. Since the cross-section of the plasma beam is generally limited in practical applications, the area on which it is desired to deposit a diamond film may be larger than the deposition beam. This means that it may be desirable to move the beam and the target substrate with respect to each other during the deposition process. This has been achieved by spinning the substrate during deposition, which helps to promote temperature uniformity over the substrate, as well as to attain larger area substrate coverage.
The hot plasma beam has a high power density and the substrate must be cooled during deposition to maintain an appropriate operating and deposition temperature. When operating with a stationary mandrel, a circulating liquid heat exchanger can readily be employed. However, it is much more difficult to provide cooling to a rotating mandrel. For example, techniques which require rotational seals and high temperature fluids tend to be expensive and unreliable. Also, precise temperature control may be lacking.
It is among the objects of the present invention to improve the ability to control temperature while depositing a substance on a rotating mandrel.